A word against drunkards and about the resurrection

“The word against drunkards and about the resurrection, spoken on the holy and great week of Easter” (5 chapters) was spoken by St. John Chrysostom, presumably in Antioch on Easter, April 1, 389. Despite the fact that Great Lent has passed, piety and zeal for good deeds must remain in a person: “The physical fast has passed, but the spiritual fast has not passed; this one is better than that, and that one is established for this purpose.” The saint calls to abstain from drunkenness. He says that intoxication occurs not only from wine, but also from anger, lust, etc.: “Drunkenness does not come from wine—wine is God’s creation, and God’s creation does not cause anything bad—but a vicious will produces drunkenness.” It is “voluntary frenzy, loss of reason,” “voluntary madness.” St. John calls for saturating your soul with the Holy Spirit so as not to saturate it with drunkenness. After condemning the custom of getting drunk on the holiday and calling for spiritual sobriety, the saint praises the Resurrection of Christ: “So, let us not disgrace this holiday with drunkenness; Our Lord equally honored rich and poor, slaves and masters; Let us repay the Lord for such favor towards us; and the best repayment is purity of life and sobriety of soul.” *The title of the work in Greek is Κατὰ μεθυόντων κα εἰς τὴν ᾿Ανάστασιν. *The title of the essay in Latin is Adversus ebriosos et de ressurectione. 1. We have put aside the burden of fasting, but we will not put off the fruits of fasting, because it is possible to put aside the burden of fasting and reap the fruits of fasting. The labor of exploits has passed, but zeal for good deeds should not pass; The fast has passed, but let piety remain; or better to say, even the post did not pass. However, do not be afraid; I said this, not thinking of preaching to you about another Pentecostal, but wanting to instill in you the same virtues. The physical fast has passed, but the spiritual fast has not passed; this one is better than that one, and that one is set for it. Just as when you were fasting, I told you that while fasting, you don’t have to fast, so now I say that you can fast without fasting. Perhaps these words seem like a riddle, but I will also give a solution to the question. How can you, while fasting, not fast? This happens when someone abstains from food, and does not abstain from sins. How can you fast without fasting? This happens when someone eats food, but does not enjoy sin. This post is better than that and not only better, but also easier; During that fast, many referred to their bodily weakness, to the severe itching: I’m all itchy, they said, I can’t stand not washing; drinking water is bad for me; I can't eat vegetables. I heard a lot of this from many people back then, but in this post nothing like that can be said. Use the ablutions, take part in the meal, drink wine in moderation, and if you want to eat meat, no one hinders you; use everything, but just abstain from sin. Do you see how easy this post is for everyone? In his presence, one cannot refer to physical weakness; this is a pure matter of the soul. You can be drunk without drinking wine, but you can also drink wine and be sober. And what is drunkenness without wine? Listen to the prophet, who says: “Woe... is drunkenness without wine” (Is. 28:1). How can you get drunk without wine? When you do not temper the unbridled passions with pious reflection. You can drink wine and not be drunk; If this were impossible, then Paul in his letter to Timothy would not have given such an instruction: “Take a little wine, a hundred for your sake and your frequent illnesses” (1 Tim. 5:23). Intoxication is nothing more than an unnatural frenzy of the soul, a perversion of thoughts, a lack of reasoning, a lack of consideration. And this comes not only from intoxication with wine, but also from intoxication with anger and obscene lust. Just as insomnia produces fever, exhaustion, despondency, spoiled juices and various causes, but suffering and illness are the same, so it is here: intoxication comes from wine, lust, spoiled juices and various causes, but suffering and illness are the same. Let us abstain from drunkenness; I do not say: let us abstain from wine, but: let us abstain from drunkenness. Drunkenness does not come from wine—wine is God’s creation, and God’s creation does not cause anything bad—but a vicious will produces drunkenness. And that you can get drunk in another way, not just with wine, listen to what Paul says: “Do not get drunk with wine,” expressing that you can get drunk in another way. “Do not get drunk with wine, for in it there is fornication” (Eph. 5:18). Surprisingly, in short words, he expressed his entire condemnation of drunkenness. What does it mean: “do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it”? We call prodigals those young people who, having received their father's inheritance, spend everything suddenly, without considering who needs to be given what and when to give, but indiscriminately - they spend clothes, gold, silver, and all their father's wealth on harlots and debauchees. This is drunkenness: taking possession of the minds of those who are drunk, like dissolute youths, and captivating their reason, it forces them to spend their entire stock of thoughts imprudently and without any caution. A drunk person does not know what to say and what to remain silent about, but his mouth is constantly open; there is no shutter or door on his mouth; a drunkard does not know how to manage his speeches with reasoning, does not know how to arrange the wealth of thoughts, does not know how to save one thing and spend another, but spends and spews everything out. Drunkenness is voluntary frenzy, loss of reason; Drunkenness is a misfortune that is laughed at, a disease that is mocked at, voluntary possession - it is worse than insanity. 2. Do you want to know how a drunk can be worse and possessed? We all pity the possessed person, but we turn away from this; We sympathize with him, but with this we are angry and indignant. Why? Because this one’s illness is from a (devilish) misfortune, and this one’s is from carelessness; This one from the machinations of his enemies, and this one from the machinations of his own thoughts. But a drunk suffers the same thing as a demoniac: he spins in the same way, goes into a frenzy, falls in the same way, distorts his eye pupils in the same way, shakes while lying on the ground, emits foam from his mouth and thus pours out unclean saliva, and his lips are filled with an unbearable stench. Such a person is unpleasant to friends, ridiculous to enemies, despised by servants, disgusting to his wife, unbearable to everyone, more disgusting than the most dumb. Dumb animals drink as long as they feel thirsty, and limit their desire to need, but this one, due to his intemperance, extends his desire beyond need and becomes more reckless than the dumb ones. What is especially difficult is that this disease, full of so many evils and producing so many misfortunes, is not even considered a fault; but at the tables of the rich there is rivalry and competition in this shame, and they argue strongly with each other about who will show himself to be a model (in this matter), who will arouse laughter more, who will weaken his nerves more, who will exhaust his strength more, who will offend the common Lord more; then one can see the devilish competition and competition. A drunk is more pitiful than a dead man. This one lies insensitive and can do neither good nor evil; and he is capable of doing evil and, burying his soul as if in a grave in his body, reveals his body as dead. Do you see how more pitiful he is than the possessed, how more insensitive than the dead? Do you want me to say something even greater and graver than all this? A drunken person cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Who says this? Paul. “Do not flatter yourselves: neither harlots, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor wicked women, nor sodomites, nor the covetous, nor thieves, nor drunkards, nor molesters, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 6:9-10). Did you hear in what assembly he placed him? Together with debauchees, with fornicators, with idolaters, with adulterers, with blasphemers, with covetous people, with robbers. So what? Are you really saying that a drunkard and a libertine are one and the same thing? Are a drunkard and an idolater really the same thing? Don't tell me that, man; I read to you the Divine laws; don’t ask me for an account, ask Pavel and he will answer you. I cannot say whether he will be punished with them or not with them, but that he, like an idolater, will be deprived of the Kingdom, I can affirm this with all my strength; and if this is certain, then why do you demand from me an account of how great the measure of this sin is? If he remains behind the doors, if he loses the Kingdom, if he does not receive salvation, if he is sent to eternal torment, then why are you presenting to me measures, scales and degrees of sins? Truly, beloved, a terrible and very serious thing is drunkenness. I’m not talking about you - let it not be - I am fully convinced that your soul is clean from this illness and this passion, and the proof of your health is your stay here, your diligent meeting, your attentive listening, because no one drunk with wine can thirst for Divine sayings. “Do not get drunk with wine, for there is fornication in it; but be filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). This is wonderful intoxication: saturate your soul with the Spirit, so as not to saturate it with drunkenness; occupy your soul and your thoughts with this in advance, so that that shameless passion does not find a place in them. Therefore, he did not say: partake of the Spirit, but: “be filled with the Spirit.” Fill your soul to the top with the Spirit, like a cup, so that the devil can no longer put anything into it; you need not just to partake of the Spirit, but to be filled with the Spirit, “with psalms, songs, and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19), with which you have been filled today. That is why I am confident in your abstinence. We have a wonderful cup of intoxication, a cup of intoxication that produces abstinence, not relaxation. Which one? A spiritual cup, a saving cup, a pure cup of the Blood of the Lord. It does not produce drunkenness, it does not produce relaxation; it does not relax the forces, but excites the forces; does not weaken the nerve, but strains the nerves; it produces cheerfulness; it serves as an object of reverence for Angels, an object of horror for demons, an object of veneration for people, an object of love for the Lord. You see how David speaks about this spiritual cup presented at this meal: “Thou hast prepared a table before me to resist those who are cold against me; thou hast anointed my head with oil, and Thy cup makes me drunken, as it is mighty” (Ps. 22:5). So that you, having heard the word “rapture,” would not suddenly be frightened and think that it produces weakness, he added: “like a sovereign” and strong. A new image of rapture instills strength, makes you cheerful and strong! It flows from the spiritual stone; it does not distort thoughts, but arouses spiritual thoughts. 3. Let us revel in this “rapture”, and let us abstain from that, so as not to disgrace the real holiday; the real holiday is a holiday not only of earth, but also of Heaven. Now is joy on earth, now is joy in Heaven. And if at the conversion of one sinner there is joy on earth and in Heaven (Luke 15:10), then how much more will there be joy in Heaven when the entire universe is snatched from the hands of the devil. Now the Angels rejoice, now the Archangels rejoice, now the Cherubim and Seraphim celebrate with us a real holiday; they are not ashamed of slaves like them, but rejoice in our blessings. Although we received this grace from the Master, they have the same pleasure with us. And what am I saying about slaves like us? Their and our Lord himself is not ashamed to celebrate with us. Why should it be said that He is not ashamed? “With desire,” He said, “I have longed to eat this Passover with you” (Luke 22:15); and if He wished to celebrate Easter with us, then, obviously, to celebrate the Resurrection. So, when the Angels and Archangels rejoice, and the Lord of all the Heavenly Powers celebrates with us, what other reason can there be for sadness? Let none of the poor be discouraged because of their poverty, because this is a spiritual holiday; Let none of the rich be proud of their wealth, because money cannot in any way increase the joy of this holiday. On worldly, everyday holidays, where there is great intemperance, where there is abundant food and gluttony, where there is disorder and laughter, where there is all sorts of satanic luxury, there, rightly, the poor are sad, and the rich are happy. Why? Because the rich man gives a rich meal and enjoys luxury more, while poverty prevents the poor from showing the same splendor. But here there is nothing like it; one meal for the rich and for the poor; Whether anyone is rich, he cannot add anything to this meal; Whether anyone is poor, despite his poverty he can participate no less in what is offered, because this is Divine grace. And why are you surprised if the same meal is for both the rich and the poor? For the king himself, wearing a diadem, clothed in scarlet, who has been entrusted with power over the earth, for this king and for the poor man asking for alms, the same meal is offered. These are the gifts of the Master; He allows people to participate in them, in accordance not with nobility, but with will and way of thinking. When you see in the church a poor man standing with a rich man, a commoner with a ruler, an ignorant with a noble, outside the church trembling before the nobles, standing inside the church without fear of the nobles, then understand what it means: then “the wolf and the lamb will graze together” (Is. 11:6). Scripture calls the rich man a wolf and the poor man a lamb. How can it be seen that the rich and the poor will be together like a wolf and a lamb? Listen carefully. Often a rich man and a poor man stand in church; the hour of receiving the Divine Mysteries comes; the rich man leaves as if not initiated, and the poor man enters the heavenly abode, and the rich man does not express indignation, since he knows that he is alien to the Divine Mysteries. But, oh, Divine grace! - not only does equality exist in the church by the grace of God, but often the poor have primacy in piety over the rich when they stand in church; wealth does not bring any benefit to those who have it without piety, and poverty does not in the least harm the believer who boldly approaches the holy altar. I say this, beloved, about the catechumens, and not about the rich in general. Pay attention, beloved, how sometimes the master leaves the church, and the believing slave begins the Sacraments; The mistress leaves, but the slave remains, for “God does not accept the face of man” (Gal. 2:6). So, in the church there is no slave and free; but Scripture recognizes as a slave the one who is given over to sin, for “whoever commits sin,” it says, “is a slave of sin” (John 8:34), and recognizes him as free who is liberated by Divine grace. Both the king and the poor man approach this meal with the same boldness, with the same honor, and sometimes the poor man even with greater honor. Why? Because the king, bound by countless affairs, is overwhelmed on all sides like a ship, and becomes involved in a multitude of sins; and the poor man, caring only for the necessary food, leading an unencumbered and serene life, remaining calm, as if sitting on a dock, approaches this meal with great security. Again, on worldly holidays the poor man is sad, but the rich man is happy, not only because of the meal, but also because of the clothing, since what they endure in relation to the meal, they endure the same in relation to clothing: when the poor man sees a wealthy person, dressed in precious clothes, he is distressed and complains to everyone about his misfortune. And here this drawback is eliminated, since here everyone has the same clothing - the saving font: “For as many as you have,” it is said, “have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27). So, let us not disgrace this holiday by drunkenness; Our Lord equally honored rich and poor, slaves and masters; Let us repay the Lord for such favor towards us; and the best reward is purity of life and sobriety of soul. For such a holiday and celebration, what is needed is not money or expenses, but good will and a way of thinking, because this is precisely the kind of purchase items here. What is sold here is not anything material, but the hearing of Divine sayings, the prayers of the fathers, the blessings of the priests, like-mindedness, peace and harmony, spiritual gifts, spiritual reward. Let us celebrate this greatest and brightest holiday, on which the Lord rose again, let us celebrate it lightly and together piously. The Lord has risen - and resurrected the universe along with Him; He rose again, breaking the bonds of death. Adam sinned and died; and Christ did not sin, but also died. This is extraordinary and wonderful: he sinned and died, but this one did not sin and also died. For what? So that the one who has sinned and died can, through the One who has not sinned and died, be freed from the bonds of death. This also happens in monetary matters: often one is a debtor and, unable to pay, is kept in chains; and the other, not being a debtor, but having the opportunity to pay, pays and releases the offender. So it was with Adam; Adam became a debtor and was in the power of the devil, but was unable to pay; Christ was not a debtor and was not under the power of the devil, but he could pay the debt. He came and paid death for the one who was in the power of the devil to deliver him. 4. Do you see the actions of the Resurrection? We died a double death and therefore we expect a double resurrection. Christ died one death, therefore He was resurrected by one Resurrection. How is this? I'll tell you. Adam died both in body and soul, he died both in sin and in nature: “If you cut down the tree one day, you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). However, he did not die by nature that same day, but died by sin; this is the death of the soul, and this is the death of the body. However, when you hear about the death of the soul, do not think that the soul is dying: it is immortal; and the death of the soul is sin and eternal punishment. Therefore, Christ says: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul; fear him rather than him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28); and what is lost exists, but is only invisible to the one who has lost it. Death, as I said, is twofold for us, therefore the resurrection must be twofold. And Christ has one death, since Christ did not sin, but this one death was for us, since He was not subject to death: He was not guilty of sin, therefore, of death. Therefore, He was resurrected by the Resurrection from only one death; and we, who died a double death, are resurrected by a double resurrection. We alone have risen from sin for now, since we were buried with Him in baptism, and rose with Him through baptism. This is one resurrection, the remission of sins, and the second resurrection is the resurrection of the body. He gave you more, expect less; The first resurrection is much more important than the last, since it is much more important to get rid of sins than to see the body resurrected. The body fell because it sinned; therefore, if sin is the beginning of the fall, then the beginning of the uprising is liberation from sin. We have already risen with a great resurrection, having overthrown the heavy death of sin and taking off our old clothes; Let us not despair of anything less. And we once rose by this resurrection when we were baptized, and these beautiful lambs who were worthy of baptism last night. On the third day, Christ was crucified, but rose again last night, and on the third day they were overwhelmed by sin, but rose up with Him; He died in body - and rose again in body, and they were dead in sin - and rose again, freed from sins. At this time of spring, the earth gives us roses, violets and other flowers, and the waters have shown us a meadow even more pleasant than the earth. Do not be surprised that flowers grew from the waters; and the earth produces plants not by its own nature, but by the command of the Lord. And at first, the nature of the waters produced moving animals: “Let the waters,” it is said, “take away the creeping things of the living souls” (Gen. 1:20) - and the command became a deed, and inanimate matter produced animate animals; so now “let the waters take away” not “the reptiles of the souls of the living,” but spiritual gifts. Then the waters produced dumb and dumb fish, and now they produced verbal fish and spiritual fish caught by the apostles: “It is coming,” Christ said to them, “and I will make you a fisher of man” (Matthew 4:19). He spoke then about this particular fishing. Truly, this is a new way of fishing; fishermen take it out of the water, and we throw it into the water, and thus catch it. The Jews once had a font; but listen to what power this font had, so that you may know the poverty of the Jews, so that you may know the wealth of the Church. It was a pool of water, and an Angel went there and troubled the water; then, after the water was disturbed, one of the sick entered it and was healed; only one per year was healed, and immediately the grace was taken away, not due to the poverty of the Giver, but due to the weakness of those receiving. So, the Angel went into the font and troubled the water, and one of the sick was healed; The Lord of Angels descended into the Jordan and troubled the waters - and healed the entire universe. Therefore, there the second one, who came after the first, was not healed, because such grace was given to the weak and poor Jews; but here, if after the first a second enters, after the second a third, after a third a fourth, and even if ten, even twenty, even a hundred, even thousands, and even if you cast the whole universe into this font, the grace does not dry out, the gift is not exhausted, the streams are not desecrated. A new kind of cleansing - it is not bodily: there, the more bodies the water washes, the more polluted it becomes; but here, the more faces it washes, the cleaner it becomes. 5. Do you see the greatness of the gift? Observe, man, the greatness of this gift. It is not permissible for you to live indifferently; assign yourself a law with all precision, because life is a feat and a struggle, and “if you strive, you will abstain from everything” (1 Cor. 9:25). Shall I tell you one better and safer course of action? Let us cast out from the soul that which seems indifferent, but gives rise to sins. Of the actions, some are sins, while others are not sins, but are the cause of sins: for example, laughter by nature is not a sin, but it becomes a sin if it extends beyond measure, because from laughter comes mockery, from mockery - shaming, from shaming - shameful deeds, and from shameful deeds comes punishment and torment. Pull out the root first, so that you can remove all the disease; if we guard against the indifferent, we will never fall into the forbidden. Thus, for many it seems indifferent to look at women; but from this comes shameless lust, from lust - fornication, and from fornication again - punishment and torment. Likewise, luxury, apparently, is nothing terrible, but hence comes drunkenness and the countless evils associated with drunkenness. So, let us destroy the beginning of sins in everything. For this purpose you receive constant instruction every day; For this purpose, we hold a meeting for seven days in a row, offering you a spiritual meal, giving you to eat from Divine sayings, preparing you every day for the fight, arming you against the devil, since now he attacks more fiercely - the greater the gift, the greater the struggle. If the devil did not tolerate seeing one in Paradise, then tell me, how will he tolerate seeing so many in Heaven? You have irritated the beast, but do not be afraid; You have received great power, a sophisticated sword: use it to kill the snake. This is why God allowed him to become furious against you, so that you would learn from experience the power of your strength. Just as an excellent teacher (of martial arts), taking some unclean, powerless and neglected warrior, and anointing him, training and correcting his body, does not allow him to remain inactive, but commands him to go out to exploits in order to show by experience what kind of strength has been imparted to him - so did Christ. He could destroy the enemy; but in order for you to know the superiority of grace, the greatness of the spiritual power that you received in baptism, He allows it to enter into conflict with you, giving you many opportunities to receive crowns. Therefore, for seven days in a row, you use the instructions to accurately learn the techniques of fighting. On the other hand, what is now taking place is a spiritual marriage; and the marriage celebration lasts seven days. Therefore, we have established that you should be present here for seven days at this sacred marriage. But there, after seven days, the celebration stops; and here, if you want, you can always be present at the sacred marriage. In worldly marriages, the bride after the first or second month is already less amiable to the groom; but here it is not so, but the more time passes, the more ardent the love of the Bridegroom becomes, the more sincere the embrace, the more spiritual the communication, if we remain awake. Moreover, for those after youth comes old age; and here - after old age, youth and youth, which never has an end, if we want it. Great is grace, but it will be even greater if we want it; and Paul was great when he was baptized, but he became even greater later when he preached, when he refuted the Jews; then he was caught up into Paradise and ascended to the third heaven. Thus, we too can, if we wish, grow, increase the grace given to us in baptism; and it increases through good deeds, becomes brighter and gives us the clearest light. If this happens, then with great boldness we will enter the bridal chamber together with the Bridegroom and begin to enjoy the blessings prepared for those who love Him, which may we all be worthy of by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory and worship forever and ever. Amen. It is believed that it was said in 395. You might be interested in: